A development capital fund of 30+ years of investment experience actively seeks opportunities in the life sciences. The firm’s mission is to provide returns to its 600,000+ shareholders, and contribute to Québec’s economic growth through investments in small and medium-sized businesses from all industrial sectors. Its evergreen fund structure ables the firm to take a long-term approach on investments. Allocations in co-syndicated deals start at $1M but mostly range from $3-10M. The firm could co-lead investments. The firm seeks to invest in businesses with a significant presence in Québec, defined as having over half of its employees based in the province, or significant activities in the province.

The firm has been a consistent life sciences investor for the past 30+ years. The firm is interested in both single asset and platform technology companies across a wide range of therapeutics including small molecules, biologics, cell therapy, gene therapy, etc. The firm is agnostic to therapeutic areas and invests at multiple development stages from pre-IND activities to Phase III. In medical devices and diagnostics, the firm invests only in profitable companies or those with an approved product.

The firm is looking for experienced management teams with expertise in the indication area. It will consider first-time-CEOs who have been able to attract seasoned professionals on the board and SAB.

There is a highly competitive search underway for promising early-stage assets as pharma and medtech companies around the globe seek to fill their pipelines with new products through in-licensing. In the past, successful in-licensing strategies typically required well-funded, fast-moving business development teams, strong research capabilities and on-the-ground scouts deployed in top technology centers. However, these investments do not always guarantee success in today’s highly competitive environment where the ability to uncover and aggressively pursue novel product opportunities is key. In addition, companies without the resources to build global business development teams or Asian companies seeking to access emerging technologies in the US/Europe can find themselves at a significant competitive disadvantage.

To help address these challenges, Life Science Nation (LSN) has developed a Sourcing and Ranking Service (SRS) which provides clients with a strategic opportunity to quickly source, vet, rank and engage with early-stage partners developing technology assets that are available for in-licensing. LSN’s unique position in the early stage space, and the range of capabilities we have developed, provide a strong foundation for SRS. By leveraging the LSN global partnering platform and our extensive experience assessing technology assets, SRS will efficiently find and do a preliminary risk analysis of promising assets, thus enabling our clients to quickly focus on top-tier assets that align with their interests. Our ultimate goal is to provide clients with a service that allows them to bypass the research and technology vetting stages and position them to enter into diligence with the owners of the technologies in which they are interested. Most importantly, LSN brings global capabilities, which allows us to take on clients interested in any commercial market. SRS has built-in flexibility, which means clients can ‘pivot on the fly’ as they learn more about the early-stage domains of interest.

LSN has developed a unique process that works with the client’s strategic pipeline goals. Starting with a detailed assessment of the client’s investment interests, LSN will conduct a global search for assets within that interest area. LSN’s Expert Ranking System will then be used to stack-rank assets based on technical and business criteria (80 to 100 assets anticipated). By playing a global numbers game, our clients have access to a larger pool of technologies, which casts a wider net and allows the identification of top technologies for in-licensing. LSN will conduct a detailed assessment of the companies holding the top 10 to 20 assets. Clients will have access to an on-line ‘data vault’ with all asset information. By merging LSN database search results with Salesforce.com, we offer our clients a customized CRM solution. Every client is provided with a transparent cloud-based portal that provides real-time project status and views into ongoing dialogues with all the potential firms involved in the process. Clients rave about having this 24/7 connectivity to the CRM and feel they are a part of the process.

Hot Mandates

The firm is focused on therapeutics companies and does not invest in medical devices, diagnostics, or digital health. The firm is open to considering assets of very early stages, even those as early as lead optimization phase. The firm considers various modalities, including antibodies, small molecules, and cell therapy. Currently, the firm is not interested in gene therapy. Indication-wise, the firm is most interested in oncology and autoimmune diseases but has recently looked at fibrotic diseases and certain rare diseases as well.

The firm is opportunistic across all subsectors of healthcare. Within MedTech, the firm is most interested in medical devices, artificial intelligence, robotics, and mobile health. The firm is seeking post-prototype innovations that are FDA cleared or are close to receiving clearance. Within therapeutics, the firm is interested in therapeutics for large disease markets such as oncology, neurology, and metabolic diseases. The firm is open to all modalities with a special interest in immunotherapy and cell therapy.

A strategic investment firm of a large global pharmaceutical makes investments ranging from $5 million to $30 million, acting either as a sole investor or within a syndicate. The firm is open to considering therapeutic opportunities globally, but only if the company is pursuing a market opportunity in the USA and is in dialogue with the US FDA.

The firm is currently looking for new investment opportunities in enterprise software, medical devices, and the healthcare IT space. The firm will invest in 510k devices and healthcare IT companies, and it is very opportunistic in terms of indications. In the past, the firm was active in medical device companies developing dental devices, endovascular innovation devices, and women’s health devices.

A venture capital firm founded in 2005 has multiple offices throughout Asia, New York, and San Diego. The firm has closed its fifth fund in 2017 and is currently raising a sixth fund, which the firm is targeting to be the largest fund to date. The firm continues to actively seek investment opportunities across a […]

Featured: All About Innovation Challenge

Companies from all categories of life science are encouraged to apply to Innovation Challenge for RESI Healthtech Week. Eligible companies can apply to Day 1 the First Coast Innovator’s Gathering, Day 2 RESI Global Partnering or both. Applicants will have the opportunity for excellent visibility among investors and strategic partners.

By Samuel Rubin, Business Development Manager, LSN For the first time this fall, Life Science Nation (LSN) will have two days of competition as part of the RESI Healthtech Week (September 5-7, 2018). Day 1 will feature the First Coast Innovation Challenge, where the top 10 ranked companies of the First Coast tech hubs will present […]

By Jessica Yang, Investor Research Analyst, LSN On June 4th, more than 700 scientist-entrepreneurs and investors entered the exhibition hall at Boston Marriott Copley Place to participate in the RESI conference. They were greeted by 30 Innovation Challenge finalists across therapeutics, medical device, diagnostics, and digital health sectors. The 30 companies, evaluated by LSN’s expert […]

By James Huang, Research Analyst, LSN We are excited to showcase the top RESI Innovation Challenge startup applicants, who will be taking part in the poster presentation showcase at the second annual RESI BIO held in Boston this year, alongside the BIO International conference. These handpicked companies represent the key sectors of the healthcare space […]

An interview with Steven ten Holder, COO, Acorn Biolabs – By Greg Mannix, VP of International Business Development, LSN This year’s 2nd place finisher at the Innovation Challenge at RESI on MaRS was Acorn Biolabs. LSN interviewed COO, Steven ten Holder and got some key takeaways on how Acorn used the RESI Innovation Challenge effectively: […]